Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Minutes Before Sunset, book 1 of The Timely Death Trilogy. I’ve been pondering many ideas on how to go about this date – because it feels so surreal – and one idea in particular kept popping back up because I keep hearing one particular question:

How did I gain my followers and readership?

There is no simple answer, but I like to explain it in the only way I can: stats. I like to share my stats because it helps others see how websites and writers shape over time. I even have an Events page so readers can see where I’ve come from in order to get where I am today. So, I am going to do that with Minutes Before Sunset. Below, you can explore a timeline that showcases the moments that grew this novel over the past year. To keep it simple, I am ONLY including events about The Timely Death Trilogy. If you want to know about everything I’ve been up to – like my other publications or how I became C.O.O. of AEC Stellar Publishing – click here or visit my Events page at the top.

When you explore the timeline below, all links will take you to a relevant blog post. Throughout this post, I have added more about my life that I haven’t mentioned before now, so I hope you enjoy it!

Again, we didn’t have the full layout at first, so the back of the novel changed a few times. This ended up being the final version, and it still looks like this today, and the back description was chosen by readers who voted between three different options. Fun fact: I took the photograph on the back cover. It was really important for me to have it on the novel. Thankfully, AEC Stellar approved it. 😀

The official Minutes Before Sunset cover, back and all, decided from your words!

I put three pictures below. The photo on the left was the day I received Minutes Before Sunset in the mail. My father took the picture on his back patio. I love that grill on the left. Bogart loves napping in that orange, lawn chair. And I am wearing one of my late mother’s rings – a sapphire I inherited from her. You might recognize the clothes I am because they were on “Dress Like the Book” photograph (on the right) I shared last month.

Originally, I had a book signing at a huge event for novels in Missouri, but I had to cancel last minute due to unfortunate and unavoidable circumstances. I still wanted to share it on this timeline because it is relevant to this past year, and it was probably one of those sadder moments where you feel really let down. A book release isn’t all fun and games, but it ended up being smiles in the end. 😀

Minutes Before Sunset was redone – mainly because the first cover was extremely washed out – but there are some inside edits that were adds. This is still the edition used today. The photo below was of the day I received this new version in the mail.

Minutes Before Sunset now has a soundtrack on 8tracks, which you can still listen to by clicking here. The songs include the XX, Florence + the Machine, Jem, and more, but I wanted to say one thing. I rarely write with music. I might brainstorm with music, but it’s difficult for me to write with music playing, so these songs are what I pictured playing in the background of a movie if it were ever made.

After hitting #407 in Paranormal Romance, I feel like this was the week Minutes Before Sunset began picking up the great traction is still has today. I still haven’t figured it out, but during this week, T. Harv Eker, #1 NY Times Bestselling author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, quoted me on his page. Following that, Shawne Duperon, 6-time Emmy winner and founder of Project Forgive also retweeted the quote and tweeted to me. My novel was also put on a bookshelf in a store for the first time. But who knows? This world is mysterious. I simply trust my gut when I say this is where I think it started.

Seconds Before Sunrise (book 2) is copyrighted and receives ISBN. This is when I really started advertising my next novel’s release (which just happened March 27) – so I took a number of months to connect with reviewers and interviewers while also pushing out more information about Minutes Before Sunset so new readers had a chance to catch up.

I shared an excerpt from my actual diary from when I was having the dreams that turned in The Timely Death Trilogy. The reason I’m sharing it again as an event is because my sales spiked. (Again, I think this is where things started speeding up for the next release. I like to share this information in the hopes that other authors can see correlations and try it out for themselves.)

As many of you know, the cover reveal for Seconds Before Sunrise was also a scavenger hunt across 50 AMAZING blogs. Special thanks goes out to everyone who helped me with the event, including Viola Estrella for dealing with my very specific vision for this cover.

These moments are huge. I never forget them, and I always keep the very first novel I receive on display on my bookshelf. My father took this photo as well. Same back patio – just in the corner this time. I had barely slept the night before because I was out of town, and my dad had texted me to tell me they had arrived. After that, I couldn’t to get back home to hold them!

My latest novels.

On the same day, Minutes Before Sunset hit 100 ratings on Goodreads at 4.48 stars. I am so happy that so many people have not only read my novels but have taken the time to rate and review them. As of today, The Timely Death Trilogy has 129 ratings at 4.43 stars.

This was my first press release. Ever. So I was really happy to finally see it: “Award-Winning Paranormal Fiction Author Publishes Second Book In The Timely Death Trilogy.”

ONE YEAR

May 1, 2014

…

Because I shared so many extras along the way, please check out these pages: Extras and Reviews. They include what cars the characters drive, personality quizzes, photos, floor plans, and more. The Reviews page includes every blogger that I know of that has reviewed The Timely Death Trilogy. (Thank you so much!)

But wait! There’s even more.

I have future publications coming your way: the ebook of Seconds Before Sunrise releases June 12th, and Death Before Daylight is about to be sent into my content editor. I also have my next novel – that I am still referring to as TMT – coming out THIS YEAR. That’s right. This year. And sooner than you think. I’ll have more news about it soon, so be sure to come back.

Today I have lots of exciting announcements, including an opportunity to win tons of prizes, but there’s something I definitely wanted to start off with:

The first name is your ranking and the second name is…well…your shade name! I’m Student Shoman. What would you get at the Naming of the Dark in Minutes Before Sunset?Feel free to share the name generator around! I worked really hard on it, so I hope your friends and you enjoy it.

My latest novels.

Now, onto my Author Announcements:

I haven’t done one of these in a while because I’ve been really focusing on bringing fun and engaging articles to everyone – writers and readers alike – but I must share all of this overwhelmingly happy news today.

AEC Stellar Publishing is actually hosting a VIRTUAL launch party on March 27th from 7 – 9 p.m. (CDT) on Facebook, so come in your pajamas and play games for a chance to win signed paperbacks, bookmarks, and more! I would invite everyone personally, but Facebook makes that really difficult, so I apologize for my massive post invite. However, you are cordially invited to celebrate the dark side via The Timely Death Trilogy. (You can also LIVE interview me. EEEEE!) Click here or the picture below to join in on the fun. I really hope to see everyone there!

Click here to join! Win paperbacks, bookmarks, prize packs, and more!

I am beyond ecstatic for the release day! And I wish I could express my gratitude by sending everyone a giant hug or high five in the mail. Your support has been unbelievable. Minutes Before Sunset recently hit 100 ratings with a 4.48 star average on Goodreads because of YOU, and YOU are amazing! I definitely included you all in my “Acknowledgements” inside Seconds Before Sunrise. This is what it said: “An artist’s life has many ups and downs, so thank you to all of the writers, readers, and dreamers for their timeless encouragement and inspiration on ShannonAThompson.com. With all of your love, the future will be filled with art.”